Well I think economically this is probably pretty bad isn't it? I mean I'm not an economist but inflation of over one and a half million percent must be a little troublesome for King Robert and his Court.

But hey seriously, no way no how a country comes back from this without some serious help. How much are the Elders of the AU going to stump up to rescue Bob the builder?

On average it takes between four and seven years of reconstruction to reverse one year of decline, I think Zimbabwe has a way to go yet.

Sounds about right. From what I'm told by friends and family prices of things double every month. 1,700,000% inflation would mean prices double 14 times in a year.

Glyph, haven't you seen Kuba's magicians who can rebuild a wrecked country in three years? :-D

Hey mindy - three years, that's all it will take! How can anyone live with 1,700,000% inflation? 75% of the population should be dead by now! What are they eating - stones?

On 16 February 2006, Gono announced that the government had PRINTED ZWD$21 TRILLION IN ORDER TO BUY FOREIGN CURRENCY TO PAY OFF IMF ARREARS!! He's a smart lad this Gono *lmao*.

In early May 2006, the printing presses were rolling again to produce about ZWD$6trillion to finance 300% INCREASE IN SALARIES FOR SOLDIERS AND POLICEMEN AND 200% FOR OTHER CIVIL SERVANTS. The money was not budgeted for the current fiscal year and the government did not say where it would come from. The one aspect of inflation that a government can actually control kubatana are the wages of public sector employees. The Government is obviously composed of mentally deficient wannabe economists.

In February of 2007 Dr Gono declared inflation ILLEGAL! *LMFAO*. He sounds like King Canute trying to hold back the sea. I declared it illegal so inflation is zero? Idiot!

By June 2007 inflation in Zimbabwe was 11000% from an earlier estimate of 9000%. The IMF estimated a rate of "only" 115000% for December 2007, and 150000% for January 2008.

The government instituted a six-month freeze on wages on September 1, 2007. The excuse given for not releasing figures by the CSO is, "There aren't enough goods on the shelves to observe purchases" see

The Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe issued a ZWD$10Million note in January 2008, roughly equivalent of USD$4. Zimbabwe's inflation rose to 26470.8 percent the rason given for this by the RBZ.....wait for it....."A CONTRACTION OF THE ECONOMY BY SIX PERCENT"!!!!

In April 2008 the RBZ issued a ZWD$ FIFTY MILLION NOTE, which is approximately worth USD$1.20. In May 2008 the RBZ issued "bearer cheques" to the value of ZWD$ ONE HUNDRED MILLION and ZWD$ TWO HUNDRED AND FIFTY MILLION respectively. Ten days later the ZWD$FIVE-HUNDRED MILLION NOTE was printed which is worth about USD$2.00.

Kubatana look at the denominations involved, the devaluation against the United States Dollar(currently ZWD$620million to the USD$1.00) and the time frame, do you know how to do the math or would you like me to show you that too? Inflation of less than 2million percent by June 2008 would be suprising.

Three years? In your wildest dreams! Is there any chance of you letting us know how you arrived at your figure of three years?

Kuba tell us how you think a country can be rebuilt in three years. God you're naive! As for the inflation, do you deny that prices can be doubling every month? Do you even speak to anyone in Zim?

And by the way, who announced that figure of 1,700,000%? THE ZIM GOVERNMENT! Do you think they would make it up to make themselves look bad?

One of these days you really should try thinking before you type.

as of 2005 the estimate for recovery time without outside intervention,(meaning a miracle) was 23yrs, bearing in mind that inflation was a mere 600% when this report was complied I think we can assume 23years and a miracle is an optimistic outlook.

1.7 MILLION %? Wasn't inflation ONLY 165,000% in April? Inflation is not just increasing in Zimbabwe, it's accelerating! You can't keep adding zeros to your currency to increase "buying" power! Will inflation increase by another factor of 10 next month? Is it mathematically possible to have 17 MILLION % inflation?

Sadly, with ZANU-PF/Mugabe running the show - NO ONE will ever invest the kind of money in Zimbabwe to turn it's economic collapse around! It is remarkable what ZANU-PF/Mugabe's policies of "total independence" have wrought.

At what point does the economy just collapse? At what point do Zimbabweans just refuse to accept their own currency in trade? When does the economy collapse to a point where they no longer use money, but return to the barter system?

People are already bartering and from what I hear a lot of transactions are covertly done in forex. Z$ are meaningless.